IV. Practice Problem
You want to determine the effects of a certain
fertilizer on the growth of orchids grown in a
greenhouse.
Materials that are available to you include:
greenhouse, 100 orchid plants, water, fertilizer, and
soil.
You want to know if the orchids will grow best with
a weak concentration of fertilizer, a medium
concentration of fertilizer, or a high concentration
of fertilizer. How will you design an experiment to
test different concentrations of this fertilizer?
A. State your hypothesis:
If the orchids are grown with a _________
concentration of fertilizer, then they will
grow the best.
weak,
medium, or
high
B. How will you set up a controlled
experiment?
1. The 100 plants will be divided into four
groups:
Group 1: 25 plants will receive plain water.
Group 2: 25 plants will receive a weak
concentration of fertilizer.
Group 3: 25 plants will receive a medium
concentration of fertilizer.
Group 4: 25 plants will receive a high
concentration of fertilizer.
B. How will you set up a controlled
experiment?
Remember: A controlled experiment
works with one variable being changed at
a time. All other variables should be
unchanged or “controlled”.
You have 100 orchid plants and different
concentrations of fertilizer.
B. How will you set up a controlled
experiment?
2. The plants will be watered daily. Over a
period of a month, the plants will be
measured to see which ones grew the
tallest.
C. What is the control group in this
experiment?
Group 1: 25 plants will receive plain water.
Group 2: 25 plants will receive a weak
concentration of fertilizer.
Group 3: 25 plants will receive a medium
concentration of fertilizer.
Group 4: 25 plants will receive a high
concentration of fertilizer.
D. What is the experimental group
in this experiment?
Group 1: 25 plants will receive plain water.
Group 2: 25 plants will receive a weak
concentration of fertilizer.
Group 3: 25 plants will receive a medium
concentration of fertilizer.
Group 4: 25 plants will receive a high
concentration of fertilizer.
E. What variables must be kept
constant in this experiment?
All plants would receive the same amount
of fluid each day.
All orchids would be the same type and be
potted in the same size pot and soil.
All plants would be grown at the same
temperature.
All plants would receive the same amount
of sunlight.
All plants would be measured in the same
manner and time.
F. What variable is being changed in
this experiment?
The amount of
fertilizer which
makes up the
weak, medium,
and high
concentrates.
G. After one month of measuring
the orchids, the following data is
obtained:
Group 1: Control Group: Grew to an
average height of 15 cm.
Group 2: Weak Concentration: Grew to
an average height of 35 cm.
Group 3: Medium Concentration: Grew to
an average height of 28 cm.
Group 4: High Concentration: Grew to an
average height of 10 cm.
Is your hypothesis supported or
disproved by these results?
We hypothesized that the orchids would
grow the best with a medium
concentration of fertilizer.
Group 1: Control Group: Grew to an average height of 15 cm.
Group 2: Weak Concentration: Grew to an average height of 35 cm.
Group 3: Medium Concentration: Grew to an average height of 28 cm.
Group 4: High Concentration: Grew to an average height of 10 cm.
The results do not support this. The results
disprove our hypothesis.
What is your conclusion based on
these results?
Group 1: Control Group: Grew to an average height of 15 cm.
Group 2: Weak Concentration: Grew to an average height of 35 cm.
Group 3: Medium Concentration: Grew to an average height of 28 cm.
Group 4: High Concentration: Grew to an average height of 10 cm.
Orchids grow best with a weak
concentration of fertilizer. Plant growth is
inhibited at a medium to high
concentration of fertilizer.